Green court tells DDA to stop farming on Yamuna floodplains by 2020

India, Sept. 11 -- The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Wednesday directed the Delhi Development Authority to ensure that farming of fruit and vegetables on the Yamuna floodplains is stopped, failing which the land-owning agency will be penalised from April 2020.

The green panel, reiterating the ban on crop cultivation on the floodplains, asked the DDA to restore the area into biodiversity parks.

"The DDA must take re-possession of the floodplains in case of encroachments within three months and fence such areas and convert them into biodiversity parks, as per the action plan proposed by them previously," the panel said in its order.

A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel warned that the DDA will be liable to pay R...